The Places from which I write: Reflections on the use of a Transnational Situated Feminist Objective Lens in Knowledge Production

Through this contribution I make use of a Transnational Situated feminist objective lens (Haraway, 1988 , Fernandes, 2013 , Kaplan, 1994 ) to depict the impact of my geopolitical-locations and multi-layered transnational identities on my choice of research topic, project design and definition of research object (Koobak and Thapar-Bjorkert, 2014) . In order to do so, I draw from examples of my multi-sited fieldwork with migrant domestic workers in Brussels and their family members in Peru and Colombia. Through the analysis, I first show how the use of such methodological tool during my pilot fieldwork shifted the aim of my research and led me to focus on the global inequalities experienced by ageing migrant domestic workers in the area of social protection. Secondly, I explore how the same methodological tool led me to choose the adequate intersectional theoretical perspectives and methods to properly address my research object. Thirdly, I show how these same reflections led me to plan ethical measures to produce knowledge under less asymmetrical power relations.
This paper shows that my geopolitical locations and multi-layered transnational identities not only enlighten my everyday life experience but also impact the ways in which I construct and conduct my research. Moreover, it highlights the importance of acknowledging the multi-layered nature of the locations from which we write in order to hold ourselves accountable for the situated knowledge we produce. Lastly, this paper shows that reflections on the politics of locations can be useful both for minoritized subjects such as myself who challenge the hegemonic archetypes from the edges as well as for others who occupy more advantageous positions.